be in good health. the circus in italy could face fraud and animal cruelty charges. are you convinced? >> i don't think you get too many circuses with pandas. >> an italian circus. who new. >> merry christmas. thanks for joining us. >> merry christmas. >> violent mobs, once again attacking police in missouri. they are angry after a black teenager ended up dead outside a convenience store shot by police but officials are insisting this is nothing like the recent police shootings that sparked racial unrest nationwide. i'm harris faulkner in for shepard smith. it happened in berkeley, missouri. unlike the shooting of michael brown, who was not armed, police say the suspect in this case, armed and aimed a gun right at the officer. still, that didn't stop angry protesters from storming the scene and things got crazy pretty quickly. protesters tossing fireworks and bricks at police.

and here's how we're told it all started. an officer was investigating a theft when one of the men he was questioning pulled out a gun. surveillance video shows the confrontation. it's a bit grainy here, but those are the suspects there in the circle next to the police car. the video freezes when one of the men raises his arm at the officer. berkeley's mayor says the surveillance video makes it very clear that the officer acted in self-defense. >> i had the opportunity last evening to review the video of the incident and what i saw in this incident is not what people portray. this is not a policeman in the city of berkeley going out and, as we say, you know, black lives matter. >> the city is important because as the mayor says you heard the officer's body camera was not on

at the time. police departments have started buying those body cams after the shooting of michael brown in august. we know in that case, a grand jury agreed with evidence that showed brown reached into an officer's squad car and tried to grab his gun which ended in brown's death. the body cams are meant to clear up any confusion in the future if the officers remember to wear them and then activate them. rick lev ven thal with our top story live with us on deck. rick, two things here. very smart to release the video right after because you and i can go to youtube and watch it ourselves. it's right there. >> sure. >> the body camera that's critical. was he wearing it? >> the department is still training in the cameras and according to police the officer wasn't assigned a camera during roll call so it was handed off to him during his shift but he didn't put it on and the next thing he knew he was responding to the shoplifting call. the officer had a dash cam but enclear if it's rolling. the investigators are relying on the cameras which captured the moment a suspect and another man approached the officer and when

the suspect identified as antonio martin takes a step back pulls a know .9 millimeter hand gun and pointed it at the six-year veteran. police did not release the video which they say shows the officer pulling his own weapon and firing three times striking the suspect once. >> this is a tragedy for everybody and our hearts certainly go out to the family of the decedents family, but bad choices were made. we didn't have the opportunity, this individual could have complied with the officer, i'm sorry, he could have ran away, dropped the gun, all sorts of things could have happened. >> reporter: police say they're still looking for a couple witnesses and the second man who was with this suspect at the time. >> look at the difference in how the department is handling this. just explaining look, this was a crime, very easy, but you have that video that people can watch. you know the other thing you can see today is the line that police formed and things got really crazy very quickly last night. >> they did. escalated fast. crowd of 2 to 300 formed after

the shooting at the gas station. you see it there. throwing rocks and bricks at police officers who did not respond with tear gas. you may see in this video an explosion and smoke at the scene. it was not tear gas. it was apparently some kind of fireworks or explosives thrown toward the gas pump there before someone in the crowd. police cars were damaged. windows broken. another gas station across the street. at least four people were arrested for assaulting police officers. missouri's governor released a statement today saying the events in berkeley are a reminder law enforcement officers have a difficult and often dangerous job in protecting themselves and law abiding citizens. the question is whether people will look at the evidence or whether they will react emotionally as they apparently did last night. >> we hope. i mean all you can do is put the facts out there for them. we hope people absorb all those facts. because they're out there this case, easy to find. >> true. >> thank you very much. here in new york city police on alert after reports of threats against local police

stations located near where two of the city's finest were ambushed last weekend. as you probably know by now, a career criminal executed two officers in cold blood in brooklyn. police and heavy duty s.w.a.t. gear standing guard outside police stations after the threats. according to nypd sources an informant reported overhearing a gang plot to attack the station houses. police say the man that killed these officers on saturday apparently did it in retaliation for the recent deaths of black men by white police officers. david lee miller is live with the news. what more do we know about this threat against the station houses? >> well, you talk about the broader threat here too. new york police say since the twos officers were killed on saturday, the police department here has assessed hundreds of phone calls and on-line postings leading to about 40 threat investigations and a total of four arrests. a brooklyn, new york, man, facing seven years behind bars for allegedly making terrorististic threats have been released without bail. police say 18-year-old devon

coley posted on-line of a gunman and a patrol car. new york's former police commissioner ray kelly says no threat should be ignored. >> unfortunately, you have to take these threats seriously. if there's any incident, usually an increase in threats. we know there are hundreds of threats against new york city police officers and police officers throughout the country, and, obviously, based on what happened saturday, you have to be very much concerned about them. >> new york police are taking extra security precusions. the department advising officers to remain vigilant at all times. >> quickly because i know we've been getting details about the funeral plans for officers ramos and liu. >> that's right. officer raphael ramos will be buried on saturday. tens of thousands of police are expected to attend in addition to joe biden. jet blue airlines offering police agencies two free tickets for officers wishing to pay their respects around the

country and details of officer liu's funeral have not been finalized. they're going to pose a security challenge to new york in light of the ongoing anti-police street demonstrations. >> right. we know with regard to officer ramos well, have the vice president, joe biden, coming in for that one, so you have security with that visit as well. david lee miller, thank you very much. joining me now, let's bring in to talk about the tensions involving the police across the nation, former nypd detective tom ruskin, currently president of c and p security group. you and i have done a lot of breaking news together and i have to tell you where we are in this nation right now is troubling because you've got sides that need each other very much. citizenry needs to trust d believe in its police force and they need for us to have that respect for authority. >> right. >> how do we good forward? >> we have to start a dialog and it can't be the rhetoric and the mass nations by political leaders who have looked to separate or apparently look to

separate the two sides. we need police to go into the communities and have that dialog with leaders and we need community leaders to calm down the rhetoric to go forward. >> i'm going to share with our audience, when things break apart sometimes on the weekends and we end up in all sorts of conversations about race and what not, tom is the guy i will reach out to because you still have contacts within the nypd. is there a person or a group right now in this city that can make a difference, that is not political? >> yeah. i think that most of the reverends in the -- >> are they being called upon. >> they are. people like calvin butts, a very, very well-respected reverend, very well-respected -- >> nonpolitical. >> nonpolitical. everyone has their own little political agenda, but not basically political. and the police department led by bill bratton in new york city, is phenomenally well versed and well trained. bill bratton left new york city to go out to l.a. and dealt with

the different problems and the racial relations in l.a., so no better suited commissioner is now in place in new york city. >> how much is there up though? when you talk about bringing people to the table to work through this. the whole nation is watching new york city. i realize there are problems in other communities. we talked about berkeley, missouri, ferguson, where this thing started. you have this playing out in other places but all eyes in new york with new year's eve coming up, a gigantic event for police to protect us. >> without demonstrators. now that demonstrators -- >> interesting. >> looking to come into times square to possibly disrupt that, another, you know, obstacle for police to consider. police in new york city over the years relative to the times of the new year's eve have brought it down to a science. they really do control it. we don't have crime in times square like they did when i started as a cop in the '80s. with the demonstrators trying to come in, will be as big a task

as it was to keep them out of rockefeller center the night of the christmas tree lighting. >> is this something that you are particularly losing sleep over right now? you've got a situation where the protesters aren't even listening to the mayor now. he said can we have a cooling off period between now and the funerals and look, protesting that's one thing, but these are people out there saying inciteful words, doing inciteful things, turning violent. >> whatever they say, they say. it's rhetoric. police are marching alongside them. what we don't see in all those videos, is the new york city police department is protecting their first amendment rights as they are marching. sos police department is lining the streets and making sure that these demonstrators can march wherever they want, say whatever they want, in relationship to their first constitutional right, and making sure that they're safe as well as the cops are safe. >> you heard about the station houses, just quickly and the threats on them, your thoughts? >> we will protect our own. we will protect the new york city police department as we

would protect any neighborhood that came under attack. you know, they're threats. they do go up at times like this. the police departments around this country are definitely on a heightened sense of alert. >> do you see a call or need for the national guard at any point in the near future. >> absolutely not. police departments around this country can take care of their own. >> tom, always good to have you. >> happy holidays. >> merry christmas. >> thank you. >> hey north korea this is for you. sony has changed its mind about "the interview" and people can see it on-line beginning now. it's an extraordinary decision just one day after the company announced it would release the film to a few theaters only. sony is now streaming the movie on websites including youtube, google play, microsoft xbox and a dedicated site called seetheinterview.com. it will cost $5.99 to rent it. these deals are said to be groundbreaking in hollywood. a major motion picture has never been released on-line and theaters in the same time

period. we're told it's only been done with small documentary and independent films but this time is different and hundreds of movie theaters across the nation have signed up to show it. one theater owner in vermont even is offering free popcorn to anybody who brings in a copy of the constitution. that's right. the trouble started this month when hackers leaked tens of thousands of sony documents including the salacious private e-mails from the execs at the company. and then threats to attack movie theaters goers that showed "the interview." somewhat like 9/11 was the exact wording. president obama blamed north korea saying hackers had engaged in cyber vandalism. but the chief legal officer for google, the company that owns youtube, responded this way. quote, we could not sit on the sidelines and allow a handful of people to determine the limits of free speech in another country. however, silly the content might be, end quote. there you have it. that's the latest. aaa is predicting the

busiest holiday travel season on record this year, but there's always a catch. some nasty storms are causing all sorts of trouble for people trying to connect with their families and friends right now. we'll look at somewhere the severe weather is hitting and it's already had some damage across the country today with those twisters. we'll look in. stay close.

we saw this coming together about this time yesterday. a powerful storm system slammed the south damaging homes,

flipping over cars, as people get ready for the holidays. at least one confirmed twister hit mississippi yesterday. officials say four people died. dozens more are injured. the governor said the storm system cut electricity to thousands of homes. that same system hit areas from louisiana to florida yesterday. officials in eastern louisiana say at least 15 homes were damaged, some destroyed. forecasters are saying now more storms are on the way and that they could cause all sorts of travel problems for people trying to get here and there for the holiday. chief meteorologist rick li reicmuth is live. >> you don't see tornados that frequently in december and certainly not strong enough ones generally to cause fatalities. we saw one tornado today across the carolinas. this is where we're seeing the worst at least of any potential severe weather, north parts of florida through the coastal areas of georgia and the carolinas and that's where we still have a slight risk of severe weather that's been issued by the storm prediction

center. it's across the carolinas. we've dropped the worst of it across florida and georgia but where you see the yellow that's where we're going to continue to watch this. but this is primarily been a rainmaker. this time of year you think december and christmas, a lot of people want to see the snow but the snow makes it harder to get home. this one a rainmaker, temperatures too warm, but the rain is heavy and we have delays in the philadelphia airport and the newark airport right now but those are the only two airports reporting delays and that's great news. the temperatures so warm here. 46 in new york, 50 in d.c., 58 in pittsburgh. so that's why we're seeing all rain. i think eventually we'll get enough cold air throughout parts of lower michigan where we will see snow overnight tonight. some people seeing a little bit of white weather. harris, we're going to watch the next storm pulling in across the west. this is another powerful one, very significant snow. we will see across the mountainous areas, good news for the skiers. denver by tomorrow 3 to 5 inches of snow. by tomorrow spreads into kansas

and nebraska. >> that's a lot of pink on that map. i'm think that's more my speed than skiing. >> you're such a young, cool kid. >> i'm really tall to be a boarder too because it's a disaster but up if. >> good to see you. >> thank you. >> you too. >> we're hearing reassuring news about former president george h.w. bush one day after an ambulance took him to the hospital in texas. he had breathing trouble. what we know about his condition just ahead. a new survey shows what some members of our military really think about president obama. most of them do not seem pleased with his performance. we'll look at what's behind the negative numbers. stay close. my name's louis,

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former president george h.w. bush is resting in the hospital today after experiencing shortless of breath last night. a spokesman says medics drove the former president to the hospital as a precaution. a family friend says he should be home in a matter of days. president bush 41 is 09 years old now. he has a form of parkinson's disease which has recently forced him to use a mort rised scooter or wheelchair. last month the former president made two public appearances. back in june he celebrateds his 90th making a tandem jump out of a helicopter. yeah. about two years ago the former

president, you may remember, spent nearly two months in the same hospital in houston for a pron i could tis related cough and other health issues. a family friend telling fox this is not the same situation. molly is live with more on this. >> yes. harris, as far as the latest any time a 90-year-old is rushed to the hospital for shortness of breath, doctors take it very seriously. so far there's no suggestion that former president george h.w. bush has taken a turn for the worse. in fact, gene becker, chief of staff to the former president, said today, in a statement, quote, the bush family certainly appreciates all your prayers, love and concern. this is not two years ago. it's a hiccup. he should come home in a few days. at the end of 2012 the former president was hospitalized for two months, which apparently was much more serious according to becker than the situation this time. harris? >> i thought this was interesting, i was reading that this is actually not unexpected for someone who has parkinson's. >> right. doctors likely will want to keep

an eye on him until they feel that 90-year-old former president is breathing more regularly and comfortably. you're right, it's not unusual for parkinson's patients to have shortness of breath. >> you get a stiffness of your breathing muscles so you get a lot of perceived shortness of breath in that situation and they're always very, very cautious with president bush, so we can't jump to any conclusions even that there's a big problem here because the breathing is a very, very common sign that he's just possibly not breathing properly. >> reporter: the white house put out a statement saying president obama had been informed of president bush's hospitalization. the statement also said, the president and first lady, quote, send their good wishes to the former president and the entire bush family. harris? >> molly, thank you very much. good to see you. merry christmas. >> good to see you too. 15% of our military men and women approve of the way president obama is doing his job as commander in chief. that's according to a military times survey of active duty service memberers.

that survey shows the president's approval rating among our troops has dropped to its lowest level since he took office. but here's the telling part. it's those who don't approve. 55% of them say they now disapprove of the job he's doing. according to the military times, president obama's approval rating among our service members has never been very high to begin with. in fact, if you take a look at that same survey from 2009, it shows just how much he's slipped. back then, 40% disapproved of him. president obama has overseen a series of social changes as you may know in the military during his two terms, which includes the repeal of don't ask, don't tell and allowing women to serve in combat roles. bill cowen is a retired lieutenant colonel and fox news military analyst. thank you for being here. >> good to be with you. thank you. nice to be with you. >> are you surprised at all, i should say, about these findings? >> i think the numbers were a little bit lower than i might have thought but i follow a lot

of blogs out there, i see a lot of massive e-mailings that come out of retired and, indeed, sometimes active duty members. i've watched what all of them have had to say for some time. there's real disappointment, dismay and dislike in many respects. interestingly enough not only for president obama but also, harris, for some of the senior military leadership. that was almost unheard of ten years ago, so there's certainly dissatisfaction out there in the ranks. >> well that's really interesting, because i hadn't dialed down on that. when you say senior military leadership, i mean, i guess you could say that those people have relationships with the president. is he somehow rubbing off on them or is it something separate? >> no, i think that's what it is. he's rubbing off on them. they are told to implement policies which in many respects the troops don't really like such as the ones you mentioned, gay and lesbian and transgender. we will see women in combat still an issue being worked out. these are things thatwrong, particularly with a lot of younger folks, people who have been in for a while.

those numbers are, you know, they're there where they are and they are going to be there a while. >> they're not just where they are, colonel, they're sliding and getting worse for the president. why is that? >> well, i don't know that he can go, harris, i'm sure you can agree, i don't think he can go an awful lot lower. he will always have a hard core group that support him. bowe bergdahl is a good example. most people in the military are disgusted by the bowe bergdahl story, senior taliban for one guy for all accounts is a deserter. we'll see what army decides to do. those kinds of things leave an impression across the military. >> you know, as we are in this holiday season now and we are so thankful for our military to keep democracy and our own safety at hand and in the forefront of their minds there's such a need for a strong military. we're fighting isis, ebola, domestic terrorism at home, the morale of our military personnel has got to be critical. how did we get to this point and

how do we get out of it? >> look, one thing is for sure, even if they have some dislike or, you know, bad polling numbers for the president, our men and women in the military are out there to do a job. they all know that. when given orders to do things, they're going to do them. i've made many trips to iraq during the war and met with hundreds of young men and women, nef he seen a military more dedicated to doing their jobs than those we have, so even if they're dismayed with the president or maybe have problems with senior leadership, when they're told to do something they're going to go do it. of that we all need to be proud. >> absolutely. last evening, i don't know if you caught it on fox news, our fox news military analyst army major general bob scales, i know you know, talked about the loss of faith in the president and whether or not there's something mr. obama can do to get it back. >> i didn't see it because i have dish network which doesn't have fox playing right now. >> oh, i'll have to hit you on

twitter with info that might help. but in the meantime -- >> thank you. >> do you think -- what should the president be doing or do you think maybe he's not aware of this? what should he be doing to repair this? >> i don't think that he can repair it. look, the thing is that a vast majority of our young men and women in the military served in iraq and/or afghanistan. every time isis pops up on the news or some other activity going on in afghanistan it's a stark immediate reminder that this president really made fundamental changes in our mission and what we were doing and affected the results in a negative way for all of us. isis, afghanistan, they will be out there for a long time, long after this president is gone. he can't turn those two things around. in fact, even sending troops to iraq right now is to the popular at all among our men and women. i don't think this president can do much at all to turn around how people feel about him in the military. >> lieutenant bill cowen, lieutenant colonel bill cowen, we appreciate your expertise.

wanted to give you help since you said you cooperate watches us. www.keep foxnews.com go and express how you feel. good to see you. >> thank you. >> thanks, harris, merry christmas to you. >> you too. >> he's not watching because heh he's not finding us on dish. pope francis is celebrating christmas eve with a late night mass at the vatican. more from the special service and we'll go live to bethlehem coming up on the fox news deck. ♪ >> francis wearing simple white and carrying the cross which you may recognize. that is the cross that belonged to st. john paul ii, who chose to continue carrying it because it had belonged to his predecessor pope paul vi. so this wonderful tradition of continuity in the church even in symbols and the optics that are

used by the pope. you see pope francis now standing before this throne, a throne which holds the image of the christ child still veiled, the holy father will unveil the figure of the christ child in a few moments. around the altar of the confession as its called, we have the children representing different parts of the world with the bunches of flowers. i want you to hear and listen to the cantor singing the kalender, the historical declaration of the events leading up to the birth of christ sung in latin. let's listen to a little bit and i will translate for you. you total your brand new car.

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>> i am, harris. >> what are your thoughts right now. i know the pope had things he specifically wanted to focus on. >> well, this is, obviously, the high point of these days. this is the midnight mass celebrating the birth of jesus and so you can expect, because it's pope francis, that he might go off script a little bit, but the main part of the script will be very simply that god is with us, that god sent his only son so that we might have life and have life in abundance through redemption. >> we're going to keep you with us as we cover this right after the break. father morris, sit by. and we will watch this as it's happening. beautiful.

j and we rejoin now the christmas eve service, the mass that the pope is celebrating right now in vatican city. this is st. peter's basilica in the vatty van and -- vatican and

moments ago we were listening and have father morris sitting by and talking about the homily in terms that message the pope might have. father jonathan, you're still with us. >> i am, thank you, harris. >> absolutely. joining us by phone, we appreciate that. we've seen this pope do all sorts of things that perhaps people might not have anticipated in terms of broadening his message. here recently he wrote an open letter about protecting christians around the world. >> the one thing that we can always expect of pope francis is the unexpected. and pope francis has chosen to go off script to speak directly from the heart and to write his own speeches, many of them at least, and he is bypassing some of the ordinary steps of review of the text, and he's chosen just to do this in order to try to reach people where they're at by speaking to them in very, very plain language. yes, it's always interesting to be waiting on pope francis to

speak, but above all, we are celebrating in the liturgy the birth of jesus and that's what he will be focused on, not so much his own personal take on it. >> yeah. you lived at the vatican for eight or nine years. >> that's right. >> tell me about the meaning of this particular mass and just, if you could, show us, teach us, father, about what we're watching? >> sure. well, it reminds me of when i was a seminar yan standing there next to the pope at the time john paul ii, having the opportunity to serve, to be the accolade for this midnight mass. it's a solemn moment. it's beginning at 9:30 at night in rome, rome time, and here we have the vigor of christ as catholics see it, the leader of over 1 billion catholics, 1.2 billion catholics, celebrating a very, very simple thing and that is that god loved us so much that even though we had sinned and fallen short of the glory of

what god mads us to be, that he would take our place and take on our own just punishment and say, i'm going to come in the form of a baby and be with you, take your place, and, of course, he came into this earth, crying as a little baby. we know the end of the story, that his earthly story at least, he went out of this earth crying naked on a cross. of course, this only makes sense, if it's done out of love and that's what we believe. >> now as we prepare to hear the pope speak, father morris, you're going to stand by today. let's watch and listen. [ speaking foreign language ] >> in latin the holy father invites us to acknowledge our sins, to prepare ourselves to

celebrate. [ speaking foreign language ] ♪ >> all right. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ >> father morris is going to rejoin us now by the phone as we watch this and listen to the beautiful music. father, you were talking with me earlier, we had you on our previous show, and you shared with me all the things going on if the world and the big job a pope always has a big job,

particularly right now, the focus being on christians who are under siege around the world. >> you're right, harris. i'm sure that's on the mind and heart of pope francis as he's beginning this midnight mass from st. peter's basilica in rome. he wrote a personal letter to the christians in the middle east who are suffering the most right now, persecuted not for anything that they've done, not because they've wanted to be involved in a war, but rather persecuted precisely because they believe in this baby jesus and his divinity. the fact that they bear that name of christian, you can be sure that it's on the pope's mind and heart very much so as he celebrates the birth of jesus on christmas morning. >> father jonathan, are there any particular points of focus that you think he might touch

on? i know that he recently -- we were talking about this, 15-point note to those who are leading the billion plus catholics around the world, places where he wants the clergy to shore themselves up, which is really interesting. >> yes. it was at his staff meeting, end of the year staff meeting, and while perhaps another year it would have been a much more diplomatic and finally tuned message, here pope frans sis gave his staff his closest collaborators, the heads, department heads, 15 points that they can work on that he and they can work on, for their spiritual life. so it wasn't high theology. it was hey, if we believe in jesus, this is how we can do better. imitation of his virtues. >> well now we are watching the pope lead the christmas eve mass. you mentioned it started there local time in rome at 9:30 p.m. it used to be a midnight mass.

and father jonathan, as we go to break, i know that so much more of the world is able to watch as the years go by, because of technology and now on-line and there was some thought of just making it perhaps as i understand it, a different time. your quick thoughts? >> sure. pope benedict 16 began that and he said why wait until midnight. we will have midnight mass leading up to midnight and pope francis decided to take that same tradition. >> father jonathan morris, along with us, we appreciate that. next we will take you live to bethlehem. stay with us. ♪soft holiday music ]♪

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pope francis celebrating christmas eve mass. beautiful occasion that we've been watching and listening to this hour. now, though, we are going to go elsewhere. people around the world are celebrating christmas as you know. so let's go to bethlehem. thousands of followers today gathered in bethlehem the traditional birth place of jesus and john is there with that. john? >> harris, i know the vatican is an incredible place to celebrate christmas but so is this. bethlehem is amazing. in fact, let me step out of the way so you can see it. it is an absolutely beautiful night. it's crisp, it's clear. no rain. thank goodness after several days of rain. but below us is the mainger square and across the square, i

don't know if you can hear what's coming from the loud speaker, that's apparently bible verses being read in arabic. across the square is the beautiful, the historic, the holy church of the nativity. of course the site where jesus was born. and earlier today, thousands of people have been here all day. there's been music, food, and as tradition holds, earlier today, a procession was led by the latin patriarch of jerusalem, through the square, to the church and that really officially kicked off the christmas celebration here in bethlehem which is interesting because in the states really it's after november, you know, the store shelves are stocked with all the, you know, with all the ornaments and everything, but it starts today and will culminate with midnight mass. security is heavy. security is tight. recent violence, protests between palestinians and police yesterday. violence along the border. but tonight as i said, it's

beautiful and there's just a very -- it's a peaceful poods and people, as i've talked to from all over the world, they are praying for peace. >> you are experiencing, no doubt as you can feel it there, a life-changing experience. when you visit those parts of the world, i've been to vatican city, it changes you in a monumental way. merry christmas to you and thank you. >> merry christmas to you. thank you, harris. >> as we kind of get back now to some of the hard news that's happening around the world, we are monitoring this situation in syria where a war plane belonging to the u.s.-led coalition has gone down. activists are posting photographs now of a man identified as the pilot in the hands of militants. that's coming up. you total your brand new car.

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they'll give us 150 bucks. sounds like a win win. guys! faster internet? i have never been on the internet and i am doing pretty well. does he even work here? don't listen to the naysayer. take the comcast business speed test. get faster speeds or more savings, or we'll give you $150. comcast business. built for business. a jordanian air force f-16 has crashed in syria but u.s. central command now is knocking back claims from the islamic state militants that they blew it out of the sky with a missile. the commander of centcom has just released a statement indicating a jordanian air force jet crashed on its own. still the jordanian's do say militants captured their pilot. the centcom commander writes quote we will ensure efforts to secure his safe recovery and will not tolerate isil's attempt to misrepresent or exploit this

unfortunate aircraft crash for their own purposes, end quote. activists have already started to post images online. which show people at the crash site combing through the wreckage. they say other images show the pilot in the hands of the militants. his family has confirmed that is the pilot in the white shirt. the activists also report isis has been scouring the area to see whether there is a second pilot. they say this all happened in northern syria near the militant self-declared capital city raqqah. jordan is one of five arab allies helping the u.s. fight the islamic state inside syria and this marks the first time the militants have captured a soldier from the coalition. christian whiten is a former state department senior adviser. christian, thank you for being here as we navigate this breaking news now. so tell me what we are doing that you know of to shore up jordan on this? >> well, the statement is pretty vague talking about not letting them use it for a propaganda

purposes, but of course they've already done that. parading a prisoner of war like this is a violation of the geneva convention. of course it surprises no one that isis pays no attention to the geneva convention. i think this is a reminder frankly that the way of waging war we have seen in the last half decade or so is not as sterile as it seems. using drones, using aircraft, refraining from using ground troops, actually still nonetheless, exposes our own forces and our own allies to mortal risk at times. >> you know as we're getting a better closer-up look at these images. he's clearly injured. you see he's hurt. what sort of operation can you imagine that the state department is talking about? i mean i've got to think that all of our departments are coming to the to try to figure out how to help this person. but do we send in special ops? i mean what has been the experience here in terms of really doing what we say we can? >> my guess is we're probably not going to do very much. jordan does have some highly

respected special operations. special operators. but the idea that will send in an extraction team with marines pouring out of helicopters i think is unlikely. because again we have been waging this anti-isis fight with such aversion to risk. we won't use ground forces. we could lend jordanians intelligence. electronic means. not human intelligence, but about maybe his location but it's very likely he will be in captivity and unfortunately the fate of isis captives, hate to sound a sour note on christmas eve, hasn't -- haven't fared well. >> yeah, you mention ground forces and that's exactly what i was contemplating. i'm thinking would we move in based on this new development? all right. so from the very beginning, christian, we saw cobbling to the a coalition of the willing. was nearly impossible for this president with this mission. so now that you've had coalition forces, i don't know another word to put it. i mean they say they didn't shoot it down but they certainly are taking advantage of the situation.

so, they've taken this guy hostage. how does that change the scope of who will help us? >> you know, i think it will actually make arab governments less willing to help. they, and for that matter the israelis, middle eastern governments at large have an extremely high sensitivity to casualty of their own forces. and also, this is a moment of reflection and not a particularly good one. we've been at this air campaign for three months. in the way wars have gone in recent decades we, the american public, would generally expect results sooner than that. the air campaign of the gulf war in 1991 was half as long as this one. the time it took to invade iraq and occupy the entire country about half as long as this campaign is so far were effectively losing the war against isis because we're not winning. unfortunately that's not a condition that lends itself towards allies jumping in. >> that's so interesting the way you put it. by not winning you're losing. the old adage, if you're standing still you're going backwards.

so why do we hear a different message out of the white house? >> well, i think just because of the political consequences of saying that we're in open-ended war with no exit strategy. and they could point, you know, our military when it's given specific targets, has effectively destroyed them. but we haven't won any major victories, taken back any ground, not in syria, not in iraq, and of course that border is meaningless to isis. we haven't really, you know, hit them in mosul. we haven't taken back mosul. we haven't taken back anbar. look at korea, look at vietnam, look at iraq. we just don't do well with wars we don't win. >> the key words here, haven't taken back. because we had it then we lost it. christian whiton, thank you very much. merry christmas to you.

why do i cook for the holidays? to share with family

to carry on traditions to come together, even when we're apart in stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and more, swanson® makes holiday dishes delicious! on this day in 19729 legendary comedian bob hope put on his last christmas show for u.s. service members in vietnam. it had become a holiday tradition. singers, dancers, plenty of jokes and special guests, including john wayne, phyllis diller, loved her hair. raquel welch and many, many more. bob hope said he felt it was his responsibility, as one of the country's top entertainers, to lift the spirits of those americans who put their lives on the line thousands of miles from home. more than 20 years later, congress named bob hope the first honorary veteran of the u.s. armed forces. but he took a bow in vietnam 42 years ago today. thanks to all of our military personnel serving around the

world, as we head into the christmas holiday. we're going to leave you now, back at vatican city, with the pope francis leading the christmas eve mass. god bless you this holiday. ♪ welcome everyone i'm neil cavuto. i hope it's a very happy and wonderful holiday for you. if you think about it, this time of year when we were putting to the this special we thought well we could talk about a lot of dry business stuff, you know, do a lot of politics. but we thought it might be a better idea to get to the reason for the season. something better than us. big irthan us. maybe a little bit holier than us. the inner good in us. i addressed that issue with none other than dr. alita king, the niece of one martin luther king, a woman who has seen the flip side of racial prejudice, and tr